The Carnations
by spid3r
Summary: Tai finds his mother in the hospital and is forced to confront his father. One shot. Complete. Taito reference.


**A/N:** Well this story, like all the stories I post here, was written a while ago, but at the time I wrote it, I liked it quite a lot. Some background might be needed for this story, but it's pretty self-explanatory, so you can skip this note if you like. Taichi is an adult here, and a teacher (!), and has been estranged from his parents for a while because his father disapproved of his relationship with Matt. Ya ya, same old story, right:P Well, I think that's all the background (un)needed. Hope the story makes sense! Read and review please!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own it! Don't sue me!

**Pairing:** Taito

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**The Carnations **

Kamiya Taichi walked down the hall with a bouquet of red carnations in his hand. He had picked the middle of the day especially for this task. He knew his father would still be working and the nurse at the front desk had said that his mother was taking her afternoon nap. He was missing an afternoon of teaching for this, but that didn't matter. He had to see his mother again. He hadn't seen her for years.

He stopped in front of her room and hesitated, then he pushed open the door and went in. She was lying in the bed, with a blanket pulled up to her chin. She looked slightly pale. Kari had told him that she had come down with a virus, but she was going to be released soon.

He closed the door behind him and sat down in a chair next to the bed. His throat felt constricted, not that he would have said anything, for his mother was asleep. He put the carnations in a vase on a bedside table and leaned his card against it. Then he looked back at his mother.

"Hey mom," he said softly. "I know we haven't been on speaking terms lately, well, not for the last ten years anyway. But I want you to know, and I know I haven't said this enough, but I love you mom, and nothing will ever change that."

He wiped away his tears, kissed his mother on the cheek and walked out of the room. The patient on the bed hadn't stirred one bit.

Mrs. Kamiya woke up from her nap and felt refreshed, well, more refreshed than she had felt in a while. But the minute she woke up, she knew that there was something different about the room. The atmosphere had somehow changed. She turned her head to find a bouquet of carnations in her vase. She was very surprised. They hadn't been in there when she had fallen asleep and she hadn't heard anyone come in.

'_I must be a deeper sleeper than I'd thought,'_ she thought.

It was then that she saw the card. I wasn't really a card. She propped herself up on her pillow and read it. It said: 'Dear Mom, I know that carnations are your favourite flower. I hope these cheer you up. I love you. Get well soon.'

'How sweet!' Thought Mrs. Kamiya. 'I'll bet Kari brought these over to surprise me. I'll have to thank her.'

She lay back on her pillow and smiled at the carnations. Her husband would be around to visit her soon, she'll just ask him to call their daughter then. She picked up a book and started to read to pass the time. Thoughts of her eldest son hadn't even come into her head.

Later that evening Mr. Kamiya pushed open the door and walked into the hospital room.

"Hi homey! How are you feeling?" He said to his wife.

She smiled and said, "Better than I've felt in a while. How was work?"

"Oh, you know. Horrible as usual. Wow! These are pretty carnations."

"Yes they are, aren't they? I think they're from Hikari. Could you please call her and say thank you from me? I do wish they could put a phone in here so I could call her myself."

Mr. Kamiya read the card and said, "These probably are from her. Why don't I call right now? Okay?"

Mrs. Kamiya smiled and nodded. Mr. Kamiya walked out of the room and went to the nearest payphone and dialed his daughter's number. A lady picked up the phone on the other end and said, "Hello?"

"Hello Hikari! How are you doing?"

"Oh! Hi dad, I'm doing great! How's mom?"

"She's feeling much better thank goodness, and she wanted to thank you for the carnations you brought over."

"Huh? I didn't bring any carnations. What are you talking about, dad?"

"You mean you didn't come here for the whole day?"

"Well, no. I wanted to of course, but I just couldn't find the time today."

"Oh, okay. Well, that's all right. I'll talk to you later then, all right? Bye."

"Bye."

Mr. Kamiya was perplexed. He quickly reported what had happened, to his wife. She was equally confused.

"But that can't be right. The card clearly says 'Dear Mom'-," she broke off and her eyes grew wide. "Honey? You don't think that maybe Taichi…" She let her sentence drift off.

"Taichi?" Mr. Kamiya said with disgust. "That's impossible. Anyway, how would he know that you are in the hospital?"

"Hikari could have told him. They were very close when they were children, so I don't see why they wouldn't still keep in touch with each other. And you really shouldn't talk about Taichi like that. I do miss him very much. If only…. never mind. Please call him, honey."

Mr. Kamiya looked slightly ashamed for thinking ill of his son.

"But I don't know his phone number."

"Hikari would know. Why don't you call her and ask for it."

"All right. If it makes you happy."

He went back to the payphone and dialed Kari's number again.

"Hello?"

"Hikari? It's dad again."

"Hi dad. Is something wrong?" She had noticed that he wasn't cheerful anymore.

"Not really, well, sort of. Hikari, I need your brother's phone number from you if you have it."

Kari almost had a heart attack! Her father wanting her brother's phone number? They hadn't spoken to each other in ten years!

"Honey? Are you still there?"

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why do you want his phone number?"

"Err, well, your mother thinks that the carnations may have been from him, so I just want to make sure."

"All right, I suppose. Home phone or cell phone?"

"Umm, cell phone."

"Okay, do you have a pen?"

"Don't worry. My memory is as good as ever."

"All right," she said hesitantly. "It's insert phone number here. Got all that?"

"Insert phone number here, right?"

"Yup. Well, bye then."

"Bye."

Mr. Kamiya inserted another quarter and dialed his son's phone number for the first time.

Taichi was still fuming as he tried to concentrate on his work. His cell phone company had called him four times tonight and he was not in a good mood.

A loud ring from his cell phone suddenly interrupted his thoughts. He growled and yelled into it, "WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW!"

An equally angry voice thundered at him from the other end, "EXCUSE ME!"

Taichi was extremely startled. That didn't sound like his cell phone company. "What the--I--Who is--Dad?"

Mr. Kamiya struggled to keep his temper in check. He took a deep breath and said, "I thought you might be surprised, but I wasn't expecting that."

Taichi blushed, embarrassed, "No dad, you see, my cell phone company's already called me four times bugging me with offers and I thought that you were them. Sorry about that."

Mr. Kamiya sighed, "That's alright. Well, um, Taichi, your mother is in the hospital because she is sick." He waited for his reaction.

"Yeah, I know."

"Know? How could you know?"

"Kari told me."

"Oh, I see." His wife's suspicions had been right. "Well, she asked me to call you and ask you a question. Actually, I also have a question to ask you."

"Okay. Ask away."

"Alright. How many guys have you seen so far?" He said not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice.

"What! None! I mean, it's just been Yamato."

"Oh."

There was an uncomfortable pause between the two. Realizing that nobody was getting anywhere, Taichi decided to break the silence.

"Umm. You had something else to ask me?" He asked uncertainly.

Mr. Kamiya cleared his throat. "Yes. You see, your mother woke up from her nap this evening and found a bouquet of carnations beside her bed. She wanted to know if they were from you, so she asked me to call you, since she doesn't have a phone in her room."

This wasn't news to Tai, since he had been in the room himself and had put the carnations there. He tried to sound nonchalant, "Why does she think they are from me?"

"Well, I called Hikari and she said that they weren't from her. So since the card says 'Dear Mom' on it she we decided that they must have been from you. Well, are they?"

Tai decided to tell him, "Yeah, they were from me. I just thought that they might cheer her up."

Up until now, Mr. Kamiya had been denying the fact that his son would ever do anything for his mother. Now those two sentences hit him like a speeding truck. What was even worse was that he could tell that his son wasn't lying. He knew that deep inside, he had know the truth all along. Tai's voice shook him out of his reverie.

"Dad? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I'd better go and let your mother know. Oh, by the way, she says 'Thank you for the flowers'."

Taichi paused and said, "Tell her that she's very welcome."

Both the men knew that their conversation was over, but neither of them hung up. It was as if each of them knew the other had more to say. They both started to talk at the same time.

"Taichi- "

"Dad- "

"You go first."

"No no. You go first."

"No, I insist."

"Well you're the oldest here."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Nothing."

"Hey, are you saying that I'm old!"

"NO! Well…there's no point in denying the truth, you know."

"Very funny."

There was another pause, but this one wasn't as uncomfortable as the first since the ice had been broken a bit. Mr. Kamiya started off this time.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it Tai?"

Tears started to well up in Taichi eyes at the sound of his father saying his nickname.

"Yes it has," he said trying to swallow the lump in his throat. "I've missed you, daddy- ," he broke off letting the tears fall.

"I've missed you too, son." Mr. Kamiya said. He knew that he had to diminish his pride, because his family meant more than that. A lot more.

Father and son consoled each other and talked about the past years. They said their goodbyes to each other knowing that this phone call had broken the animosity between them and that things would change now, for the better. Mr. Kamiya walked back to his wife's hospital room with a clear conscience and a warmed heart.

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Well, that's it! Hope you liked it! Please review; it'll only take a second :)


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